i'm Gutted For The Lads - Westley

11 January 2013 12:53

Preston North End boss Graham Westley has said that he is gutted after his lost were beaten 3-2 in stoppage time in the Johnstones Paint Trophy Northern Area Semi-Final.

Speaking to Preston's club website, Westley said: ““I am gutted for the lads; they put in a really strong 90 minute performance.

“They deserved to get something out of the game and they really did work hard in the second half to get themselves back into the match. “They showed a great togetherness and spirit to earn the right to be ahead on 90 minutes. Naivety to concede the equaliser and obviously there will be some focus on the decisions on to allow the offside goal to knock us out. “It is always tough to accept a decision as blatant as that but in fairness we didn’t get the rub of the green with decisions all night. There was a penalty on Joe Garner in the second half, I need to see it again but it seems stone wall. “The boys seem adamant it was a penalty, ok we went and scored immediately after but that isn’t the point. It is hard to accept decisions as big as that which have knocked us out. “If three players are in the positions that they are in and to suggest they are not interfering would be wrong. “The players wanted to go through and do so well for the Club, the five minutes added on did we see it out like a side which is winning consistently, no. We didn’t keep the ball in front of us, we made mistakes when trying to see the game out. “We won’t be winning the JPT this year and we have taken some tough body blows but I have said to the lads, you can either go away and feel sorry for yourselves or you can bounce back and start putting some consecutive wins together in the league. “I won’t be going away and feeling sorry for myself, what done is done and now we have to make sure that we bounce back and we use the pain of tonight." Full story: http://www.pnefc.net/news/article/westley-gutted-590685.aspx?&pageView=full